Let's stop playing dictator's game

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has a strange way of making nice with the world diplomatic community.

Faced with near universal anger over North Korea's recent nuclear test and missile launch, Kim is trying to make amends by jailing two American journalists.

This time, his courts have sentenced two American journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee to 12 years at hard labor for illegally entering North Korea and committing other unspecified "hostile acts."

The experts say this is Kim's way to bring American diplomats to the table to discuss his latest indiscretions and maybe win some concessions.

But Kim's game is no laughing matter to the two jailed women who are facing back-breaking work in one of North Korea's notorious prison camps.

The experts say it's not likely the women will end up in a camp, but that's no solace to Lee, the mother of a 4-year-old girl, or Ling, who is suffering from an ulcer.

According to news accounts, the two were arrested in March near China's border with North Korea. It's unclear whether they had actually entered North Korea, or if border guards crossed into China and snatched them, something Kim has done before.

For now, President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton must push to get these women released as soon as possible.

At the same time, they must let Kim know that they won't cave into his demands for attention, since he has always been an unreliable negotiating partner. So far, that's been the administration's strategy. The State Department, Clinton said, has been treating Lee and Ling's plight as a "humanitarian" matter.

Nevertheless, the safe return of two reporters should be our principal concern. After that the U.S. should let Kim know that America has far more to worry about than a dictator of a failed state who grandstands on the world stage while his own people starve.